1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an amusement device. More particularly, the present invention relates to an amusement device in the form of a wheel turned by a stream of water.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wheels turned by material striking the wheel such as water are known in the art. The following U.S. Patents disclose related devices:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,080 discloses a waterwheel demonstrating apparatus for demonstrating and illustrating to students that random appearing phenomena occurring in natural systems such as biological, chemical, physical, and mathematical may actually reflect the action of simple underlying non-random processes or deterministic systems that illustrate basic concepts of dynamics and chaos theory. A dual wheel device is provided in which one wheel is driven by a stream of water and the other wheel acts as a brake, resisting the rotation created by the first wheel by dragging a series of vanes through a water bath. The operation of the device can be varied and controlled by varying one or the other of the parameters, including the water level in the braking compartment to cause different states of operation, namely periodic or chaotic.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,307 discloses a particulate material powered prime motive device powered by the tailings of mines, the crushed material emanating from quarries and/or the earth removed in strip mining operations. The system takes advantage of the fact that in any mine-like operation a relatively large hole is produced which extends for a finite distance below the normal topography of the surface of the surrounding land. The system includes a driven wheel mounted in a horizontal axis having a particulate matter receiving device at the outermost circumference thereof. The wheel is located near substantially the bottom of the quarry or pit. A guidance device is provided to discharge the aforementioned particulate material from the upper reaches of the quarry or pit onto the flights or buckets of the driven wheel. The wheel, as in the case of a water wheel, discharges the particulate material onto a slide. The particulate material then slides to an area of accumulation adapted and constructed to make the particulate material accessible to a vertically oriented endless conveyer system having buckets designed to carry the particulate material upwardly to a hopper from which the particulate material is then redistributed to the driven wheel. The endless conveyer is driven by a suitable device such as an electric motor or internal combustion engine. The driven wheel may be suitably coupled through a transmission to an electric generator. The current produced by the generator may be used to supplement the requirements of the motive device employed to drive the endless conveyer system.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,723 discloses a water pistol affixed by a water-tight connection to a transparent housing containing targets. The nozzle of the water pistol is fixed in a piston, or is aimable, so that the discharge from the nozzle impinges on the targets and moves them. A water return tube connects the housing with a reservoir of the water pistol thereby providing an enclosed path for circulation of the water.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,152 discloses a fluid stream generator which is an apparatus for generating a fluid stream including a container, a plurality of compartments within the container, a device for establishing fluid pressure between a first and a third of the compartments, a device for transferring pressure from the third compartment to a second compartment, and a device for permitting fluid to pass from the second compartment into the first compartment, whereby pressure established in the third compartment is transferred to the second compartment to permit a fluid contained therein to be driven into the first compartment as a fluid stream.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,272,582 discloses a pond and fish bowl adapted to be positioned in the pond, the fish-bowl having flanges on three sides thereof, which flanges are adapted to engage with the edges of the pond, upright short slots in the fish-bowl through which water is adapted to flow from the fish-bowl into the pond, the bottoms of the slots being above the bottom of the bowl a sufficient distance to retain in the bowl water enough for the fish to swim in, a long slot in the bowl, a stud placed over the side of the fish-bowl in line with the long slot, the stud having a water wheel rotatably and removably mounted thereon, the stud being engaged in the slot on the raising of the bowl and permitting the raising of the bowl.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,594,720 discloses a toy water mill of the character set forth including a miniature house, a floor partition within the upper portion of the house setting up a water chamber, an enclosure having a rear wall extending from the back wall of the house and a side wall extending from the rear wall transversely of the house and extended a substantial distance beyond the front thereof, a removable shaft extending transversely of the enclosure and having one end mounted in the house and the other end mounted in the side wall, a paddle wheel carried by the shaft, a water pipe leading from the interior of the chamber to and terminating over the wheel, and a removable receptacle positioned to receive water discharged over the wheel and held in position therebeneath by the side and rear walls of the enclosure and the end wall of the house.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,570,996 discloses a mechanical toy which is in an enclosing case including an independently constructed upper section (A) having a top, bottom, sides and ends, the sides and ends at their junction with the bottom crimped to closely engage an an independently constructed lower section (B) having a bottom, top, sides and ends, the sides and ends at their junction with the top crimped to engage the intermediate section, an independently constructed intermediate section (C) having sides and ends only to engage with and be rigidly secured by a water tight connection at its top and bottom edges respectively to the crimped portions of the upper and lower sections (A and B) to form a single watertight case or casing to receive and support movable devices of various types, and actuators to actuate the devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 923,640 discloses a toy water-mill including, in combination, a casing, a water wheel supported exteriorly thereof, a lower tank provided in the casing, an upper tank in the casing, a pumping mechanism between the lower tank and the upper tank for forcing water from the former into the latter, a third tank arranged below the water wheel, a device for returning water from the third tank into the lower tank, and a trough leading from the upper tank and arranged to discharge water against the water wheel.